Features

Song: Best Coast, “Sunny Adventure” Context: This is a just-released song from Best Coast, who will be at Clubhouse Saturday. Read our interview with Bethany here if you haven’t yet. Sunny Adventure by bestcoastt…

Record Store Day is still a few months off, but local chain Zia Records has already put out a call for songs to include on their annual You Heard Us Back When compilation.Bands have until March 7 to get their material in, and they’ve got a good shot of getting…

A boy saved himself from a pack of wolves with a little help from Creed on Thursday, according to NME.Thirteen-year-old Norwegian student Walter Eikrem came across a pack of wolves on his way home from school. He knew not to run away from the wolves, so he quickly became resourceful…

Skankstress Katy Perry just announced a tour date for Phoenix’s Comerica Theatre on August 3.It’s part of a “California Dreams” tour that starts on June 7 in Atlanta and runs through August 14, the second show in Katy’s hometown Santa Barbara, California. Tickets, priced pretty modestly at $30-48, go on…

This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. How did Kimber Lanning of Stinkweeks talk an association of record store geeks out of boycotting…

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has revealed that lead singer Steven Tyler was turned down after he auditioned to replace Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin, according to NME.However, Jimmy Page invited Tyler to make a record together, which Tyler declined. Why the hell would anyone turn down the chance to make…

This year sure has been a fickle beast thus far — treacherous weather, Jared Lee Loughner and now a slumping music industry.Showroom Of Compassion, the latest album from venerable rock band Cake, took the top spot on the Billboard charts for the week ending on January 16, Yahoo! News reports.That’s good news,…

Sean Bonnette has a theory concerning time, space, and the area of Phoenix that city planners officially refer to as the “Central Business District.” “I have this idea — I’ve had it for six months now — that ‘Central Phoenix’ and ‘Downtown Phoenix’ are two totally different places, but they…

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast sounds pretty rough as she answers the phone for our Monday afternoon interview, but given her week, it’s understandable. A few days before, she and her bandmates — guitarist Bobb Bruno and drummer Ali Koehle — made their television debut on Late Night with Jimmy…

Sean Bonnette and Ben Gallaty of local duo Andrew Jackson Jihad have some interesting thoughts on the differences between the areas within Phoenix. The city may be full of hipsters who ride fixies, but they hold it close to their hearts nevertheless. Their opinions of the city are quite honest,…

Our sister paper, The Village Voice, has announced the results of their annual Pazz & Jop critic’s poll.If you’re unfamiliar, basically like 1,000 music critics get to vote on their favorite albums and singles, assigning points to the top 10. Then those points are tabulated and Kanye West wins.Or at…

In perfect Girl Talk fashion, the good people of Goldenvoice set up a surprise late night release of Coachella’s overwhelmingly impressive lineup.Many of Michael Lopez’s lineup predictions were spot on. The Strokes made the cut, as did Duran Duran, although on a different day than what Billboard speculated.The Black Keys…

As of right now, Arizona only has four acts confirmed for showcases at the king-making SXSW music conference and festival. That number could go up — organizers say they’re still adding acts and will up until mid-March, when the amps click on in Austin — but so far Marianne Dissard…

Coachella’s official lineup should be announced very, very soon — lest anyone forget that this week is usually when the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival makes it big announcement.In lieu of the entire festival lineup, a few acts have already been confirmed for the festival’s 2011 edition — Duran…

It’s never too early to speculate who’s playing this year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, set for the weekend of April 15-17. British Sea Power’s April 9 date at the Clubhouse all but confirms that they will be playing Coachella, most likely on Saturday — although a Sunday gig…

​If you’re like The Decemberists lead singer Colin Meloy, then you enjoy folk-tinged albums rooted in verbosity and literary symbolism. Thank god, then, that for their sixth album, Meloy and his merry cohorts are staying true to what they do best. The King Is Dead lacks a concept — unlike…

Don’t be alarmed if you hear the sound of irritated groaning emanating from the campuses of Arizona State University and other local institutions of higher learning this week, as it’s merely the collective grumblings of students returning to class for the spring semester. Southern rapper T-Pain will offer an ease…

As I’ve been arguing for awhile, a “Silent Boycott” from SB 1070 is a serious concern — it’s not that people will put out press releases condemning our state for a law that probably won’t go into effect in any meaningful way, it’s that bands will quietly route their tour…

Does it seem like a full year since The Underground opened in downtown Mesa?It’s hard to believe, right?The venue opened on February 12, 2010 but there’s apparently another show that day (not on the calender yet). Also, the venue is kind of small so they’re doing it upstairs at the…

Name: Jake Goldsmith AKA: DJ Goldsmith Current gigs: Wednesday nights at Bar Smith for The Scenario with Hempsey in the Main Room. Genres spun: House, disco, techno, acid and many, many others. How did you get started as a DJ? I’ve always loved music and have always collected it. In…

Get ready for a night of hard and heavy alternative rock music that’s definitely worth checking out.Vayden, Warner Drive, and Ronin Meyer will be performing a big all-ages rock show on the outdoor stage at 910 Live tonight. Tickets are $10.All three bands have put a more artistic spin on…

Local legends The Meat Puppets will put out a new record, Lollipop, on April 12. The followup to 2009’s Sewn Together will come out on Megaforce Records. It was also recorded in Spoon’s HiFi Studios in Austin. Curt Kirwood produced the record himself — Curt lives in Austin and also…